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Autumn Term 2020/2021 WEEK 2

AGREED V. NON-AGREED ATTRIBUTE

AGREED ATTRIBUTE, i.e. noun + adjective
The adjective must agree with the noun it describes in gender, number, and case; hence agreed attribute.
In other words, the form of an adjective is always dependent on which noun it describes.

If we, for instance, want to describe a female noun in Genitive singular form, the adjective must also be
in female Genitive singular form. Thus, in longer and more complicated phrases, we can always easily
distinguish which noun the adjective refers to:
E.g.: We can translate the phrase ‘open fracture of the right humerus’ into Latin
as fractura aperta humeri dextri or fractura humeri dextri aperta
without any change in meaning. The adjective ‘aperta’ may actually stand anywhere in the sentence,
because its ending clearly suggests that it refers to ‘fractura’ and not to ‘humerus’. However,
conventionally adjective describing subject in medical reports is located either right after the noun it
describes or at the total end of the phrase.

See also the agreement of ‘humerus’ with its specifying adjective ‘right’ – both are in male Genitive
form, because the noun ‘humerus’ is of male gender and appears in Genitive in the phrase (fracture of
humerus)

BUT!!! the adjective does not have to belong to the same declension as the noun it modifies;
therefore, the adjective does not have to end the same way as the noun it describes (even though
it sometimes does, if it happens to describe a noun of the same declension)
E.g. we can use the adjective internus/a/um (=internal) to describe facies (=surface). Since the noun is
of female gender, we choose the female gender form of adjective ending in -a: facies interna. Just
like the two words differ in their endings in basic Nominative form, they will also differ in other
cases, since they belong to different declensions (i.e. inflection groups). If we, however, use the
adjective to describe e.g. tunica,a female noun of the first declension, the adjective willhave the same
endings as the noun, since both belong to the first declension: tunica interna.

The dictionary entry of each adjective contains Nominative singular forms for all genders. The
choice of the proper form depends on the gender of the noun we want to modify. Thus, the gender of
a noun must be memorized together with the noun itself - *in some declensions, the Nominative ending may
give us a hint about the gender of the word. For instance, most of the 1 st declension nouns are of female gender and end
in -a. However, in other cases, the situation is not so simple, e.g. words ending in -us may be males of the 2nd declension
(nervus, i, m.), neutrals of the 3rd declension (corpus, oris, n.), or even males of the 4th declension (ductus, us, m.).
The case and number of the adjective must also be identical with the case and number of the noun it modifies,
e.g. if the noun is in plural form, the adjective must be in plural form, too; if the noun stands in Genitive case,
the adjective must be in Genitive form as well.
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Autumn Term 2020/2021 WEEK 2

Adjectives of the 1st and 2nd declension (in dictionary format, you can recognize these by their -us, a, um
or -er, a, um ending) are inflected as nouns of the 1st and 2nd declension. Ordinal numbers in Latin, too,
behave as adjectives of the 1st and 2nd declension. In anatomical nomenclature, we only use ordinal numbers
from 1 to 12. Adjectives of 1st and 2nd declension as well as ordinal numbers 1-12 have the following
Nominative singular endings: us (er), a, um.

The dictionary entry of an adjective always contains a full male form followed by female and neutral endings,
E.g. magnus, a, um > M: magnus, F: magna, N: magnum
primus, a, um > M: primus, F: prima, N: primum

Some adjectives end in -er instead of -us in Nominative sg. male form; in such cases, female and neutral forms
in the dictionary entry always indicate whether the -e- is omitted or stays in other forms and cases
*the same principle applies for nouns ending in -er

dexter, tra, trum > -e- is omitted in other than Nominative sg. male forms
liber, era, erum > -e- is kept in other than Nominative sg. male forms

NON-AGREED ATTRIBUTE, i.e. noun in Nominative + noun in Genitive

- equivalent to English “of” phrases (anatomy: describing parts of structures); the two nouns do not have to
agree in gender, case, or number, hence non-agreed attribute. Consequently, if the case or form of the first
noun in Nominative changes e.g. after a preposition, nothing happens to the second noun – it stays in Genitive.
REMEMBER! Latin Genitive form is equivalent to English noun followed by ’s or standing
after of, e.g. caput tibiae = head of tibia / tibia’s head

AGREED AND NON-AGREED ATTIBUTES IN A SINGLE PHRASE

E.g. if we want to record a surgery (=operatio) (performed) because of a complicated fracture of tibia,
in Latin we formulate as follows:
operatio propter fracturam tibiae complicatam or operatio propter fracturam complicatam tibiae

Both words of the agreed attribute, i.e. ‘complicated fracture’, must stand in singular female accusative
form due to ‘propter’ and the fact that ‘fractura’ is a singular female’, while ‘fractura tibiae’ is a non-
agreed attribute (=fracture of tibia), therefore, tibia stays in Genitive, no matter what happens to
‘fractura’. The position of the adjective ‘complicated’ is loose, because its ending clearly suggests
which noun it refers to, but the convention is that it is located either right after fractura or at the end of
the phrase.
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Autumn Term 2020/2021 WEEK 2

INFLECTION of

singular
1. fractura vertebrae 1. fractura complicata
2. (causa) fracturae vertebrae 2. fracturae complicatae
4. (post) fracturam vertebrae 3. (post) fracturam complicatam
6. (cum) fractura vertebrae 4. (cum) fractura complicata
plural
1. fracturae vertebrarum 1. fracturae complicatae
2. (causa) fracturarum vertebrarum 2. fracturarum complicatarum
4. (post) fracturas vertebrarum 4. (post) fracturas complicatas
6. (cum) fracturis vertebrarum 6. (cum) fracturis complicatis
The noun in Genitive remains the same Both noun and adjective change accordingly
PREPOSITIONS
= words expressing spatial, temporal, or causal relations
Each preposition requires the following noun (and the adjectives describing it, if there are any) to stand
either in Accusative or Ablative form. With most of the proepositions, it must be memorized which of the
two cases is used; the prepositions ‘in’ and ‘sub’ may be used with both cases; however, the two cases then
express two different meanings.
Accusative prepositions Ablative prepositions
in (= into [direction]) in (= inside [location])
sub (= under [direction]) sub (= under [location])
ad (= towards) e(x)* (= out of)
propter (= due to/because of) a(b)* (= away from)
post (= after) cum (= with)
ante (= before) sine (= without)
prope (= near) pro (= for)
contra (= against)
inter (=between)
intra (=during)
circum (=around)
per (=through)
* These two prepositions have two variants based on the following letter – if a vowel follows, we use variants
‘ex’ and ‘ab’, if a consonant follows, we use variants ‘e’ and’a’: e.g. ex aure – ab oculo; e naso – a labio
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Autumn Term 2020/2021 WEEK 2

EXERCISES

1. Form non-agreed attributes to name parts of anatomical structures:

head of humerus
head of rib

neck of femur rupture of aorta

body of clavicle a finger of hand

*scapular notch1 neck of tooth

arch of aorta a finger of foot

groove of thorax fracture of sternum

fracture of tailbone rupture of vein

2. Form agreed attributes by modifying a noun with a correct gender form of adjective:

second vertebra deep layer

right knee external vein

false rib auditory tube

open fracture left big toe

internal iliac artery urinary bladder

hollow vein fourth finger

the left third rib left thumb

right uterine tube black line

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i.e. “notch of scapula” (some English terms do not use name a part of scapula; therefore, scapula must stand in
“of” phrase, even if there is Genitive in Latin; instead, Genitive)
an adjective may be used in English; however, we still
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Autumn Term 2020/2021 WEEK 2

3. Translate the following short phrases including both agreed and non-agreed attribute:

surgical neck of femur complicated fracture of pelvis

rupture of gall bladder fracture of the head of true rib

body of the first coccygeal vertebra process of the twelth thoracic vertebra

rupture of internal iliac artery

4. Form prepositional phrases by changing the case endings of the given nouns depending on
the particular preposition. Use the declension table and follow these steps: 1) realise what the
full Genitive is, 2) identify the stem and the declension, 3) attach the ending of the respective
case to the stem (based on the table). *CAUTION! Some declensions have a special set of
endings for neutral nouns!
sub (location) shoulder blade rib tongue

sub scapula

sub (direction) eye skin kneecap

sub cutem

in (= inside) tooth mouth bone

in (= into) skull orbit hypogastrium

ad (= towards) collar bone chest belly

ad abdomen

ex (= out of) ear nose eye

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Autumn Term 2020/2021 WEEK 2

VOCABULARY
ANATOMICAL NOMENCLATURE

albus, a, um white uterinus, a, um uterine, related to

uterus
aorta, ae, f. aorta vena, ae, f. vein
arteria, ae, f. artery vesica, ae, f. bladder
auditivus, a, um auditory verus, a, um true (with costa)
cavus, a, um hollow (with vena)
coccygeus, a, um coccygeal, related to CLINICAL TERMINOLOGY
coccyx
coronarius, a, um coronary (with arteriae) anatomicus, a, um anatomical
dexter, tra, trum right apertus, a, um open
externus, a, um external chirurgicus, a, um surgical
felleus, a, um bilious, related to bile clausus, a, um closed
fuscus, a, um brown complicatus, a, um complicated
gastricus, a, um gastric, related to stomach fractura, ae, f. fracture
iliacus, a, um iliac, related to iliac bone ruptura, ae, f. rupture, tearing of tissue
internus, a, um internal
lamina, ae, f. membrane, lamina
liber, era, erum free, loose *ORDINAL NUMBERS

linea, ae, f. line primus, a, um first

magnus, a, um big, large secundus, a, um second
medianus, a, um median, located in tertius, a, um third
between two structures
medius, a, um middle quartus, a, um fourth
niger, a, um black quintus, a, um fifth
obliquus, a, um oblique, inclined sextus, a, um sixth
palatinus, a, um palatal, related to palate septimus, a, um seventh
parvus, a, um small octavus, a, um eighth
proprius, a, um proper, distinctive nonus, a, um ninth
profundus, a, um deep decimus, a, um tenth
sinister, tra, trum left undecimus, a, um eleventh
spurius, a, um false (with costa) duodecimus, a, um twelfth
subcutaneus, a, um subcutaneous, located
under skin
thoracicus, a, um thoracic, related to
thorax
transversus, a, um transverse
urinarius, a, um urinary
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Autumn Term 2020/2021 WEEK 2

COLLOCATIONS TO REMEMBER

collum anatomicum a groove separating the head of humerus from the tuberosities (No. 4 in the
picture below)

collum chirurgicum a frequent location of fractures at the narrowed part of humerus/femur (No.
5 in the picture below)

lamina propria a thin layer of loose connective tissue, or dense irregular connective tissue,
which lies beneath the epithelium and together with the epithelium
constitutes the mucosa

linea alba the tendinous median line on the anterior abdominal wall between two
straight muscles

tuba auditiva Eustachian tube, also called auditory (or pharyngotympanic) tube, links
nasopharynx with the middle ear

tuba uterina Fallopian, or uterine, tube

vesica fellea gall bladder

vesica urinaria urinary bladder

anatomical v. surgical neck of humerus